The Miami Heat struggled offensively in the first three games of their series against the Indiana Pacers. Even in Game 1, which they won, they failed to to crack 100 points, and in the two losses they scored just 75 points. Game 4 was a must-win for them, and they knew they had to make adjustments — specifically more movement without the ball from Dwyane Wade and LeBron James.
When commentators and analysts look back at the San Antonio Spurs' sweep of the Los Angeles Clippers, many of them will focus on the Spurs' 24-0 run from Game 3. But they were successful because they continually out-executed the Clippers on offense, not just during the one run. In the second half of each game, we saw the Spurs perfectly execute one of coach Gregg Popovich's set plays just when they needed it.
Despite having the best regular-season record, the San Antonio Spurs had some problems on defense — particularly containing ball handlers in pick-and-roll situations. According to Synergy Sports, they were last in the league in terms of points per possession allowed to ball handlers in these plays. I expected the Los Angeles Clippers to exploit this weakness with PNR plays for Chris Paul and for him to take over like he did against the Grizzlies. But that's is not what happened Tuesday night. The Spurs were able to hold Paul to just six points on 3-of-13 shooting, and, while he did have 10 assists, the Spurs forced Paul into five turnovers, as well.
At the end of Game 2 on Tuesday night, the Miami Heat trailed the Indiana Pacers by three points with 8.3 seconds left in the game. The Heat had to inbounds the ball from the corner, which makes setting up a play more difficult. Instead of going for a quick 2, coach Erik Spoelstra designed a play out of a timeout to get a 3-point attempt.
Last week, I wrote that David West would play a pivotal role for Indiana in the Pacers’ second-round series against the Miami Heat. Because of his ability to run pick-and-pop plays (which have hurt Miami all season long), I thought that if West played well, then the Pacers would have a real chance of winning the series. Miami, however, came into Sunday’s Game 1 with a nice adjustment against West’s pick-and-pops. The Heat — as they always do — showed hard and trapped the ball handler on high screens, but in addition to that, they came up with a way to also trap West as he caught the ball after setting a screen. The Heat were trapping twice in a row and relying on their perimeter defenders’ speed to rotate out of these traps. The strategy was extremely effective.
As the Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers prepare for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals on Sunday, a handful of TV and Internet analysts have noted that the Pacers match up well against the favored Heat. Indiana has the size and talent to slow Miami’s march to the conference finals, they say, and perhaps pull off a stunning upset. And for all of Indiana’s athletic wings and plucky role players, the team’s chances to advance past the second round rest on one Pacer: David West.
Kenneth Faried is a ball of energy for the Denver Nuggets. On Tuesday night against the Lakers, he was matched up with Andrew Bynum. Bynum is clearly the superior player, but only when he wants to be. The fundamental differences between the two bigs was very clear Tuesday night. Faried rim-runs (runs the length of the floor once his team has possession) hard every time. The same can't be said of Bynum. This early play ended up being emblematic of the whole game:
The Oklahoma City Thunder started the fourth quarter of their series-clinching Game 4 against the Dallas Mavericks trailing by 13 points. With Russell Westbrook on the bench, the Thunder started the quarter with James Harden as the primary ball handler. When the team began running pick-and-roll plays for Harden, coach Scott Brooks found a mismatch that allowed the Thunder to get back in the game and eventually complete a sweep of the defending champions.
In Game 3 of their series against the Utah Jazz, the San Antonio Spurs were trailing by one point toward the end of the first half. Following a Jazz shot clock violation, Gregg Popovich called a timeout to set up a play with 3.4 seconds left in the half. The result was a huge 3-pointer that shifted the game's momentum:
On Tuesday night, the Philadelphia 76ers started pulling away from the Chicago Bulls with a 12-point lead at the end of the third quarter. With one minute left, the Sixers wanted to close the period strong, building on their lead and their momentum. They went to a set that they've used against the Bulls before.
The adjustments a coach makes between games (and during them) in a playoff series can decide whether his team makes a run to the Conference Finals or bows out in the first round. The New York Knicks didn’t make enough in-game adjustments against the Miami Heat on Saturday, especially when it came to how Miami defended Carmelo Anthony. Despite missing his first seven shots, Anthony was playing well — he was moving well and making the right passes to cutting teammates for spot-up jumpers and other scoring opportunities.
Even before Derrick Rose went down on Saturday, the Chicago Bulls were exploiting the other pieces of their offense. Guard Rip Hamilton is one of the best players at working off of screens, and the Bulls ran a number of sets to take advantage of that. The most effective one we saw was the single/double action at the high post.
After James Harden sustained a brutal elbow to the head from Metta World Peace shortly before halftime on Sunday against the Los Angeles Lakers, the Oklahoma City Thunder returned for the second half scoring like crazy, quickly establishing a big lead. But the Lakers were not deterred. They got the lead down to single digits with less than five minutes left in the game. The Thunder were unable to make a few baskets in crunch time, and their tendency to tighten up in close games was on display — a critique that has dogged them all season long.
Who is responsible for these troubles? The Internet places all the blame on Russell Westbrook, and I understand why. He's not a true point guard — he looks for his own shot just as often as he tries to set up his teammates. He does make some curious decisions — which he did Sunday against the Lakers — but he's not solely responsible for the team's problems. Kevin Durant and coach Scott Brooks shoulder some blame, too. The way they failed to close out the Lakers demonstrates just what they generally do wrong in crunch time and what they should be doing more of.
Note: I realize that the Thunder were shorthanded without Harden, but the problems I saw go beyond this one particular game.
Take a deep breath as I tell you this: The New York Knicks have one of the best defenses in the NBA. They rank fifth in defensive efficiency — which is a measure of points allowed per 100 possessions — giving up just 97.6 points. They are at the top of the list, along with with the Chicago Bulls, Boston Celtics, and Miami Heat. The Knicks consciously focused on their defense after struggling for years. They brought in Mike Woodson, signed Tyson Chandler, and drafted Iman Shumpert to lock guys up on the perimeter. Now they have found defensive success as a result.
First, led by Chandler, they play excellent post defense. On post-up plays, they allow 0.73 points per possession (PPP) on just 39.5 percent shooting.
Watching the New York Knicks play the Miami Heat is an interesting clash in styles. Since Mike Woodson took over as the Knicks’ coach — especially since Amar'e Stoudemire and Jeremy Lin went down with injuries — his team has relied largely on isolation plays, usually for Carmelo Anthony. The Heat have the league's best defense when it comes to defending isolation offense. Their 0.709 points allowed per possession in these situations is the NBA’s best, and opposing teams shoot just 33 percent when they try to go one-on-one against Miami. One reason why Miami is so tough on defense is that they have LeBron James, who allows just 0.574 points per possession (PPP) when opponents isolate against him.
Knowing this, it was surprising to see Anthony go off against Miami using simple isolation plays throughout the game’s first three quarters. He scored 21 points on 15 isolation possessions until the fourth quarter, according to Synergy Sports. He scored effectively against both James and Shane Battier. So why couldn’t Miami stop him? After breaking down some tape, it seems like the Heat failed to execute their game plan against Anthony.
